BACKGROUND: Prospective studies have shown that C-reactive protein (CRP) can be used to predict risk of future cardiovascular events. High-sensitivity methods for CRP (hs-CRP) measurement are needed for this purpose. METHODS: We compared the clinical efficacy of an automated and commercially available latex-enhanced assay (Latex) for hs-CRP (Dade Behring) to a validated in-house ELISA, previously shown to predict future peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in asymptomatic populations. Using a prospective, nested, case-control design, we measured baseline hs-CRP concentrations in 144 apparently healthy men who subsequently developed symptomatic PAD and 144 age- and smoking habit-matched controls who remained free of vascular disease over the follow-up period of 60 months. RESULTS: The two hs-CRP assays correlated highly (r = 0.95; P